In vivo study of percutaneous absorption of 4-chloroaniline using microdialysis in the rat

The present work was undertaken to study the percutaneous absorption of 4-c hloroaniline (parachloroaniline, PCPA, CAS 106-47-8), a chemical intermedia te in pesticide manufacture, using in vivo microdialysis in the rat. The re sults of the microdialysis study showed that PCPA was able to cross the ski n (T-max = 3 h and area under the curve (AUC) = 332.1 ng . h/ml) and rapidl y enter the systemic circulation (T-max = 3.3 +/- 0.6 h). It could be also shown that PCPA was partly metabolised during its percutaneous absorption. The analysis of cutaneous dialysate samples using gas chromatography / mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed that the metabolite was 4-chloroacetanilide Ta ken together, the data obtained showed that contact with the skin is a dang er for exposed persons.